Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives,” the follow-up to his 2011 genre thriller “Drive,” ranked pretty high up on Guy’s recent wishlist of Cannes entries. It wouldn’t be outrageous to anticipate a bow there, seeing as “Drive” was so warmly received on the Croisette, translating to a Best Director prize for Refn. Pity, though, that the awards season yielded a mere single Oscar nomination for the film, albeit in the unexpected (though no less deserving) field of sound editing.
“Only God Forgives” is an original concept from Refn with “Drive” star Ryan Gosling front and center once again, this time running a Thai boxing club as a front for his family’s drug smuggling operation. Kristin Scott Thomas stars as his mother, a merciless mafia head that will surely turn a number of heads if it’s the kind of role it appears to be.
The new red band trailer for the film features very little of her and plenty of Gosling’s ruthlessness. Most dazzling, though, is the overall look of the film, vibrant set design and cinematography that feels perfectly of a piece with Refn’s vision across a number of films to date. And it’s all eerily cut to the sounds of Proud’s “Tur Kue Kwam Fun (Music Box)” (thank you, Shazam).
Check it out below. I’m pretty excited that Refn’s voice is out there giving us stuff like this. I’ve been on board for quite a while and both “Bronson” and “Drive” landed on my top 10 lists in their respective years, so this is easily one of my most anticipated films of 2013.